July 11, 2015
Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA
Morgan Little
MLittle@PeninsulaHumaneSociety.org
At the Humane Society in Burlingame, I worked with young orphaned feral kittens that people brought in. The kittens were often sick and needed constant care.
I would say the social injustice I was primarily targeting was animal overpopulation. Every year, around 100 to 150 newborn feral kittens are brought into the center where I worked. By bringing them in, people are helping to stop the overpopulation of cats. At the Humane Society, volunteers like myself nurture the kittens until they are strong enough to go into foster care where they are socialized with humans and familiarized with living inside a home. Once the cats are old enough to be spayed and neutered, the Humane Society preforms the operation and puts the cats up for adoption. Spaying and neutering is a proven way to reduce pet overpopulation. This is something we especially need because there are nearly 2.4 million adoptable cats and dogs put down in U.S. shelters each year- one is put down about every 13 seconds.
While working at the Humane Society I learned a harsh truth. Often times kittens would fall ill with highly infectious diseases that would put the rest of the kittens at risk. Sometimes I would come in to volunteer and the kitten I new was too young to go to foster that I had worked with just a few days before would be gone. It was hard to come to terms with the fact that I couldn’t save every kitten, but I learned to understand that certain things had to be done to ensure the prosperity of the other kittens. I think I really did make a difference through my work and it is definitely something I will continue to do beyond PACT.
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